Chapter 2System Update: The Heart’s Variable

I couldn't go back into the classroom, so I found a shaded spot to sit. I hadn't eaten lunch, and my stomach was growling. The porridge steamed, smelling savory. It smelled good. I was hungry. I figured since Julian wasn't actually sick, there was no point going in. I might as well eat it myself.

[Julian is such a piece of trash! Can he even speak human?] The System’s voice exploded in my head. It sounded like it had been holding back for a long time, gritting its virtual teeth. [Stella, let's go in there and slap him! I can't take this anymore! So what if he's #1? Unbind! We are not serving him anymore!]

I was opening the lid of the porridge. I paused. "Huh? Can we do that? But he's the top student."

The System: [...] It reviewed the records. Julian had indeed been #1 on every single exam. So my binding target had never changed. The System deflated. [Fine. Forget it, Stella. Eat first. Eating is important.]

As the warm food filled my stomach, the sadness from the scene upstairs finally hit me, slow and heavy. I was born with slow reactions. My emotional processing is weak. I learn things slowly and forget them quickly. That’s why I’ve always been dead last in the rankings. It’s not that I don't try. I just don't have the talent. My stupidity feels innate. Even if I do the same math problem a thousand times, I’ll forget the formula the next time I see it.

Julian is different. He’s been #1 since kindergarten. The "neighbor's kid" everyone compares you to. I used to envy him. How could someone be so smart? Then, in high school, I bound with the "Academic Genius System." The System told me my intelligence was "locked" by some force. To "unlock" it and improve my grades, I had to be in close contact with the smartest person around. It called it "osmosis."

Before my parents died, their only wish was for me to study hard and get into a good college. I didn't want to disappoint them, so I tried my hardest. But it was useless. With my grades, community college was a stretch. So, even though I knew Julian despised me, I followed him like I did when we were kids. I became his gofer. I agreed to every demand. I ran errands, bought water, held his umbrella. Because he was my target.

Julian was cold, sharp-tongued, and arrogant. He was moody. When he was in a bad mood, he’d say things like he did today. He called me dumb, laughed at my IQ, called me a leech. But when he was in a good mood, he’d teach me how to solve a problem.

Once, during a storm, I gave him my umbrella and prepared to run home in the rain. He grabbed me and pulled me under the canopy with him. The streetlights cast a warm yellow glow, softening his sharp features. He said, "Stella, are you an idiot? This umbrella is big enough for two." His body heat traveled through his palm into my arm. We walked side by side in the rain.

I didn't know what "intimacy" the System required, so I just tried to be good to him. It hadn't worked much before. But that moment under the umbrella, when Julian pulled me close... My heart pounded. I felt like my brain actually cleared up. When I got home, I didn't forget what I studied. Sure enough, on the next monthly exam, I went up ten spots. Still at the bottom, but not the bottom.

I might be slow, but I understand fairness. I don't actually like Julian. He's too mean. I approached him to use him for grades. Even though the System said my "borrowing" his intelligence didn't hurt him, my parents taught me never to take advantage of people for free. So I tried to repay him. And since I couldn't tell anyone about the System, I had to hide my true motive. That’s why I tolerated his cruelty.

But today was different. I went to buy medicine because I was worried about him. When I ran out of the school gates, I wasn't thinking about him as a target. I thought of him as a friend. I couldn't watch a friend suffer.

When we were kids, he used to look at me with disgust and say, "You're as dumb as a pig. I don't make friends with pigs." So I stayed away. When he shared his umbrella, I thought we were friends again. But it was just me thinking that. I didn't need the System to tell me. He said those things today because he doesn't see me as a friend. Julian has never changed.